Washington — Most lawmakers are calling it a good deal, but Connecticut anti-hunger advocates say a new massive farm bill’s cuts to food stamps will leave thousands in the state hungry.
Washington
Posted inPolitics
Metro-North, MTA sought delay of federal safety rules
Washington – Crisis-plagued Metro-North and its parent company sought to delay and weaken proposed federal safety measures that could have helped prevent some of the accidents the rail company suffered in the past year. Less than two weeks before a foreman was killed by a train, Metro-North pressed the Federal Railroad Administration to delay a safety rule requiring trains to slow to 25 miles per hour when passing a work site.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Obama to talk of end run around Congress in address
Washington – President Obama’s state of the union speech Tuesday evening will focus on economic fairness for the middle class and the long-term unemployed and a defense of the Affordable Care Act, a senior administration official said.
Posted inMoney, Politics
CT awaits Obama’s take on familiar topic: inequality
President Obama’s expected call tonight in his State of the Union address for the nation to confront economic inequality should have a special resonance in Connecticut, a state dotted with pockets of extreme wealth, deep poverty and the nation’s worst gap in education achievement.
Posted inHealth, Politics
Esty’s ‘nuanced’ votes on Obamacare rile liberals and GOP
Washington – As a Democrat, the freshman is under pressure from her party to support President Obama’s signature law. But as a Democrat representing Connecticut’s 5th District, which has a history of supporting Republicans, Esty is also pressed to distance herself from some of the more unpopular aspects of the law.
Posted inPolitics
Connecticut lawmakers have special guests for State of the Union address
In keeping with President Obama’s theme of inequality in the United States for his State of the Union address to the nation on Tuesday, some Connecticut lawmakers have invited special guests.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
FAA: Fewer flights at Bradley make less noise
Washington – Bradley International Airport has gotten quieter. At least that’s what the airport has told the Federal Aviation Administration, which approved a new noise map this week that shows the area affected by the noise of Bradley’s flights has shrunk significantly over the past five years.
Posted inNews
CT defense industry wins big in U.S. budget bill
Washington – The massive omnibus spending bill creates winners and losers – and at first blush it seems that Connecticut is chiefly in the winner’s column.
Posted inMoney
Connecticut companies worry they’ll lose valuable R&D tax break
Washington – Corporations like Pfizer, United Technologies, Alexion and others spend millions on research each year, hoping to develop new products or processes that contribute to their bottom line.
Posted inPolitics
Blumenthal says Obama’s NSA reforms only first step
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has introduced legislation to rein in NSA spying, said President Obama’s announced reforms of the agency are “stronger in principle than prescription.” While he praised the president for moving to address concerns abroad and at home about the NSA’s operations, Blumenthal said he would continue to press for approval of his legislation, saying Congress must “provide precision and details” to the president’s reforms.
Posted inNews
Blumenthal milks Senate support for dairy compromise
During the Senate debate Thursday on a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, Sen. Richard Blumenthal used a glass of milk as a prop to try to bring attention to a new compromise that might end a deadlock over the dairy program that has stalled a massive farm bill. Blumenthal, D-Conn., said a deal has been cut to keep the current dairy subsidy program while phasing in a new program that would replace those subsides with an insurance plan.
Posted inEducation
Gray, others, urged by Obama to find ways to boost college enrollments
With his education agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama on Thursday urged Gregory W. Gray, Connecticut’s President of the Board of Regents for Higher Education, and dozens of other university presidents to share each other’s methods of expanding access to higher education. “More than ever a college degree is the surest path to a stable middle class life,” Obama said at a White House conference on opening the door to college for more students, especially low-income youths.
Posted inNews
Connecticut credit card holders most likely to complain about Citibank
Connecticut ranks seventh in the nation when it comes to per capita complaints about credit card bills, says a new report by ConnPIRG, a consumer advocacy group. Citibank is the lending institution most often cited in complaints from Connecticut cardholders, ConnPIRG said. But nationally, Capital One was the most complained-about credit card issuer by total number of complaints, followed by Citibank, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.
Posted inNews
Connecticut dairy farmers at center of fight over farm bill (updated)
Washington — Rep. Joe Courtney and the state’s dairy farmers are in a pitched battle with the most powerful member of the House of Representatives, Speaker John Boehner, a fight that has stalled the farm bill and whose outcome is likely to affect the price of milk across the country. “Speaker Boehner, in my opinion, is interjecting his own special interests agenda to the detriment of the farm industry and rural American as a whole,” Courtney said.
Posted inPolitics
Miles Rapoport named national president of Common Cause
Miles S. Rapoport, a progressive activist who was a Connecticut legislator and a secretary of the state, was named Tuesday as the national president and chief executive of Common Cause, the nonpartisan government watchdog. Rapoport, 64, the president of Demos, a research and advocacy group, will begin work March 10, succeeding Bob Edgar, a former congressman who died in April at age 69. It will place Rapoport in Washington at a pivotal time for a key Common Cause issue: The continuing debate about the role of money in politics.
